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Some may wonder why I reblog articles like this on Feminatronic, when it is a site about Women Electronic artists but that is precisely the point. Just as I felt that the artists I highlight were not really visible or heard, this article covers the history and underlying theories that have contributed to that perceived invisibility. It fits with the previous post about Alternative Electronic Histories and the aim to readdress the imbalances. Also, if you are interested in sound creation, the silences are also valid.

This week we are pleased to welcome Guest Editor Karly-Lynne Scott kick off the last Thursday Series that Sounding Out! is running in 2015. Over the last ten months, this stream has reconsidered historical figures from radio preacher Elder Michaux to folklorist Alan Lomax, found new ways to tune in the weird voices in literature from Joseph Conrad to H.P. Lovecraft, and featured unsettled soundscapes from Vancouver to Havana.

All year, our Thursday authors have been challenging sonic archives and remaking historical and contemporary problems. That trend continues with Scott’s exciting work and that of her authors in Hysterical Sound.

— Special Editor Neil Verma.

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Hysteria, the infamous and now-discredited psychological disorder that was a common diagnosis for women during the 19th century, has important sonic dimensions that have often been overlooked. Indeed, sound holds a prominent place in both the symptoms and treatment of hysteria: from the…